Process of roasting ores.



No. 789,952. PATENTED MAY 16, 1905. J. A. ANKER, J. H. WATSON & P.EVANS. PROCESS OF ROASTING omzs.

APPLICATION TILED D130. 10. 1903.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

W M uwfP/m. 4mm? mm, X gqg gzwzz No. 789,952. PATENTED MAY 16, 1905. J.A. ANKER, J. H. WATSON & P. EVANS. PROCESS OF ROASTING ORES.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.10. 190a.

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Fa l/r .[re (Jen ions" Joseph .13. flflker James If. Watson A w? EvansMil/7195.985

No. 789,952. PATENTED MAY 16, 1905. J. A. ANKER, J. H. WATSON & P.EVANS.

. PROCESS OF ROASTING ORBS.

APPLICATION FILED 13110.10, 1903.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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use n er & {ga s figwafson I z'erc'evans P PATENTED MAY 16 1905. J. A.ANKER, J. H. WATSON & P. EVANS.

lROGESS 0F ROASTING ORES.

APPLICATION FILED DIE-0.10, 1903.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

ooea M cao NITED STATES Patented May 16,1905.

ATENE Erica.

JOSEPH A. ANKER, JAMES H. 'WATSON. AND PIERCE EVANS, OF LOS ANGELES,CALIFORNIA; SAID ANKER AND EVANS ASSIGNORS TO SAID I/VATSON.

PROCESS OF ROASTING ORES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 789,952, dated May 16,1905.

Application filed December 10, 1903. Serial No- 184,575.

To all whom, it nanny concern.-

Be it known that we, JOSEPH A. ANKER, J AMES H.VVA'rsoN,and PIERCEEvANs,citizens of the United States, residing at Los A ngeles, in thecounty of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new anduseful Process of Roasting Ores, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to the process of roasting ore, particularlycopper ore, and has for its object to render the process moreexpeditious and considerably cheaper.

Broadly the present process consists of projecting the ore in a thinstream or veil and projecting a flame against or through the veil.

More specifically the process consists of dropping the crushed ore in athin stream or veil down a vertical tortuous chamber by stages, thedowncoming stream being intercepted, so that the falling ore accumulatesin a mass, which is held stationary for a short time and then dischargedthrough another stage down the chamber, again arrested and heldstationary, and again discharged in a thin stream down the chamber, andso on. Flames produced, preferably, by oil-burners are introduced intothe chamber, and these flames pass up through the chamber and are givena pulsating character by being continually deflected in their passage upthe chamber, and the flames passing through the veil of falling oreenvelop and attack it, igniting the sulfur in the ore and releasing thearsenical or other elements which are to be eliminated preparatory tosmelting. The falling of the ore in a stream continues for a definiteinterval, and the ore is accumulated in segregated masses. Thesegregated masses are then respectively discharged and allowed to passin thin streams farther down the chamher.

The life of the flames is continuous during the carrying out of theprocess; but the action of the flames on the ore varies according as theore is segregated in masses or falling in streams. The action of theflames against the ore when in a mass gives a preliminary heatingpreparatory to a more complete action and separation of the sulfur andother elements, which will take place when the ore is again projected instreams.

Simultaneously with the introduction of flames to the ore an air-blastis introduced into the chamber, which, although it unites with the flameand promotes combustion somewhat, is not introduced for that reason, butfor the purpose of giving a strong blast against the ore to prevent theformation of any crust or collection of any moisture on the ore, theairblast blowing out the fumes and preventing adhesion of ore to anypart of the furnace.

The flames on entering the chamber immediately attack and envelop theore, igniting the sulfur and releasing the arsenical or other propertiesfrom the ore. The expansion of the flame and deflection takes placeimmediately in front of and around the gases at the point where theyundergo combustion. The deflection of the flame gives it a pulsatoryaction, which gives it great activity upon the ore and secures a maximumof efliciency with a given amount of fuel.

Various forms of apparatus may be devised for carrying out this process,and the accompanying drawings illustrate one form of apparatus which maybe used for the purpose.

Inasmuch as the apparatus shown forms the subject-matter of anotherapplication of ours, filed December 10, 1903, Serial No. 184,574, and isfully described and claimed in the said application, only a briefdescription of the apparatus will be here given.

Referring to the drawings, Figure I is a side elevation of the apparatuswith the lower left-hand portion of the wall broken away to show theinterior. Fig. II is a plan view of the apparatus. Fig. III is a backview of the apparatus. Fig. IV is a vertical sectional view of thatportion of the furnace which is in the immediate vicinity of theroastingchamber. Fig. V is a sectional view on line V V, Fig. I. Fig. V1is a plan view of a retaining-shoe. Fig. VII is a broken sectional viewof a shoe-locking bar and the lockingbar support. Fig. VIII is atransverse vertical sectional view of a retaining-shoe. Fig. IX is adetail View of a portion of the jointed ends of the links.

The furnace is preferably square in crosssection,.being built upof'brick, and is provided with a substantially vertical tortuous orsinuous roasting-chamber 2, which is lined with fire-brick. The oppositecurved faces of the tortuous chamber lie relatively close together,while the width of the chamber is much greater. The upper end of thechamber is constricted to a .narrow opening 3, through which the ore isintroduced from between mills 4, which may be adjusted to regulate thethickness of the stream of ore admitted. The bottom of the chamber isconstricted, so as to discharge the ore in a stream into a car which maybe run under the chamber. The upper end of the chamber 2 branches into afine communicating with the stack 5.

From the bulging portions or promontories of the tortuous chamber shoes6 project, which are pivotally mounted and adapted to be rocked betweena horizontal position and an inclined position by means of levers 7 and8. The shoes 6 are constructed with symmetrical right and left parts andupper and lower faces, so that when one face has become worn the shoemay be turned over or reversed to give a fresh face for receiving theore. Thus each shoe is provided with four faces, which may be utilizedone after the other as the wear upon the shoe necessitates. In theembodiment shown we have provided four shoes, two projecting from eachside of the chamber, the shoes on both sides being operated by similarmechanisms and the mechanisms being so arranged and connected by awalking-beam 9 that when one set of shoes is horizontal the other set isdepressed. While one set of shoes is being moved from the horizontalposition to the depressed position the other set of shoes is beingraised to the horizontal position.

Suitable gearing 10 is provided for driving the mechanism. By referringto Fig. III it will be seen that the front and back walls of thefurnaces are provided with horizontal recesses 11, which have branchvertical recesses 12. The shoes 6 are mounted on hollow shafts 13, whichare carried by wheels 14:, the wheels 14 riding upon rails 15, which liein the lower part of the vertical slots 12. The shoes may be drawn outby means of rods 16.

In order to keep the shoes in place, rods 17 are provided, which passthrough the links 7 and through curved slots 18 in the wall of thefurnace, the rods 17 working in the curved slots when the mechanism isoperated. These rods 17 may be withdrawn, as indicated by dotted linesin Fig. II, when it is desired to run the shoes out to turn them over.Short links 19 are also provided, which act as stops when the shoes arein either extreme position.

In order to prevent excessive heating of the shoes, brine or othercooling agent may be circulated through the hollow axles by means ofpipes 21.

Underneath each shoe oil-burners 22 are provided, and under eachoil-burner an airblast is introduced through a pipe 23. It should beunderstood that the air-blast which enters through the pipe 23 does notform part of the oil-burner, but is entirely extraneous to theoil-burner and'is employed to secure a chemical reaction on the ore andnot to affect the operation of the burner in any way.

In operation the ore is fed down between the rolls 4:, the same beingadjusted to secure a thin stream, preferably of about an eighth of aninch thick. This stream of ore falls during its initial stage down thechamber upon the first or uppermost horizontal shoe and graduallyaccumulates in amass thereon. As the stream or veil of ore falls theflames rising through the furnace pass through the stream and envelopthe ore, attacking the same and igniting the sulfur and releasing thearsenical or other properties. The airblast which comes through thepipes 23 drives off the sulfur fumes and is a very important feature ofthe invention, as without the air-blast there would be an incrustationupon the mass of ore as the ore accumulates on the shoe, and theair-blast obviates such accumulation. The air-blast also drives out anymoisture which might be on the ore. After aquantity of ore hasaccumulated on the first shoe the shoe is tilted by the rotation of thegearing and the mass of ore which had accumulated on the shoe is causedto fall in a thin stream or veil from the first shoe onto the next lowershoe, which in the meantime has raised to a horizontal position, andduring the passage of the ore from the first to the second shoe it isacted upon further by the flames in a manner similar to that justdescribed. After the mass has accumulated on the second shoe the shoesare again shifted, so that the ore falls in a thin stream from thesecond shoe to the third shoe, where it is further acted upon directlyby the immediate contact of the flame and air-blast and is further freedfrom sulfur and arsenical or other properties, and from the third shoethe mass is delivered to the fourth shoe in due time in a thin stream,as before, being again acted upon by the direct flame, and from thefourth shoe, after having accumulated thereon in a mass, the ore is fedin a thin stream into the car, being again acted upon by the flame fromthe lowest oilburner as it falls in a thin stream into the car. Theshoes are provided with perforations, as shown in Fig. VI, for thepurpose of permitting the blast to pass therethrough to prevent adhesionof the mass to the shoe, the

blast keeping the perforations entirely clean.

What we claim is The process of roasting ore which consists ofintroducing separate flames into a suitable chamber at various points,passing ore through the furnace past the flames, and alternatelyaccumulating the ore in heaps between the flames and then slowly dumpingthe heaps to gradually deplete the heaps and drop the ore in severalthin streams, the respective streams being actively attacked by, andreceiving intimate contact with the respective flames; and introducingair-blasts into the chamber simultaneously at various points to securethe same chemical reaction upon all of the heaps or streams of ore.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses, at Los Angeles, in the countyof Los Angeles and State of California, this 21st day of November, 1903.

JOSEPH A. ANKER. JAMES H. WATSON. PIERCE EVANS.

Witnesses:

GEORGE T. HAOKLEY, FREDERICK S. LYON.

